Study: Court fines and fees, which some states use to fund their judicial systems, disproportionately hurt the rural poor

A recently published study exposed what authors say is an "unhealthy conflict" in judicial systems, "between using fines and fees as both a source of revenue and punishment, and said they imposed an inequitable burden on the rural poor and communities of color," Andrea Cipriano reports for The Crime Report, a publication of the Center on Media, Crime and Justice in the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at the City University of New York.

The study, published in the Idaho Law Review, noted that Idaho funds its judicial system largely through penalties and fines. Commissioned in 2019 by the Idaho Legislature Office of Performance Evaluations, the study is the latest in a decade of research showing that "has documented how skyrocketing court fines and fees cause harm to those least able to pay them, and make future justice involvement more likely," Cipriani reports. "The study recommended that Idaho abolish juvenile court administrative fees as a first step towards reform."

"For people caught up in the criminal system, fees simply operate as another layer of punishment on top of fines," the study said. "Enforcing monetary sanctions with the threat of additional fines, fees, and jail time merely recriminalizes financially precarious people, without any legitimate policy goal or discernible benefit to the state. . . . Mostly white and rural states like Idaho regularly impose substantial monetary sanctions on people without the means to pay them." Idaho has more than $195 million in uncollected court debt.

The authors found that, in effect, "Idaho is trying to squeeze 'blood from a turnip' — essentially forcing people to give money that they don’t have, Cipriani reports. "Worsening the problem, the escalating fees have contributed to overzealous policing, prosecution and punishment, the study said."